Bank of Papua New Guinea (BPNG) Governor, Loi Bakani, confirmed yesterday that more than K124 million demonetised K100 bank notes sold to a company in Germany in 2013 is being illegally circulated publicly.
According to BPNG, these K100 paper bank notes which are old and possess no monetary value may have allegedly been “hijacked” somewhere in Asia while on route to Europe for destruction, and circulated widely, even sold by some people online.
Demonetisation is the act of stripping a currency unit of its status as legal tender. It is necessary whenever there is a change of national currency. The old unit of currency must then be retired and replaced with a new currency unit.
Mr. Bakani said yesterday that there were two ways of identifying it: the signature and; the feel of the money.
“…it is paper, not plastic and also if someone returns it we have serial numbers, ” Governor Bakani explains.
Whilst confirming that the monies are not genuine, BPNG Governor warned that commercial banks have been advised to bring them back to Bank of Papua New Guinea if found.
Mr Bakani appeals to the public worldwide to take heed that these K100 notes are valueless and could be used anywhere.
“We sold it to a company in Germany to shred and recycle. They make plastics or other things, recycle them and they can even make wheelbarrow tyres,” he says.
The governor discloses that when the shipment went up to Germany, it got disbursed to different people who are now trying to bring it back to change it to polymer or plastic notes.
“On the way to Germany, they had a syndicate in Asia because it’s coming out from the Taiwanese, the Indonesians, and Asians,” says Bakani.
“It’s demonetised and of no value. I will put out a notice and say that if you see those old notes or are in possession of them with the two old signatures and they are paper notes, bring them back or report to us.”
